An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

[jamiefairlie]

The Free Design - Make the Madness Stop

https://youtu.be/6xiL3Kse0Sk



Another one from their Kites Are Fun debut album. I love the chaotic mix of sweet harmonies and weird time signatures.

[daf]

The Hollies - Ye Olde Toffee Shoppe



Included on a four track EP in France, and on the Evolution album, released in June 1967

"Evolution", the Hollies sixth album, peaked at number 13 in the UK album chart. The album cover artwork was created by the Dutch design collective The Fool, with the psychedelic cover photo by Karl Ferris.

Karl Ferris : "They wanted to break from their 'Pop Beat' sound into something more psychedelic. So I listened to the music that they were recording at Abbey Road Studios, and got an image of them pushing through a membrane into 'the Psychedelic world', and so in summer of 1966 I took a studio shot of them pushing out their hands and the lead singer pointing through clear plastic. Over this I superimposed a shot of William Morris Art Nouveau wallpaper with an illustration and 'Love' lettering drawn by my girl friend Anke. This combination created the image of the Hollies 'pushing through to a new wave of music style and consciousness'. I worked with the Fool (lead by Simon Posthuma) on this, and they did the lettering, the back cover design and the group's costumes."

       

The album was recorded at EMI's Abbey Road studios in just six days spread over three months in early 1967, at the same time the Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

This was The Hollies' first album for their new US label, Epic Records, and like many American issues of British albums, it was remixed using heavy echo and reverb. In addition, three songs were left off the album (with "Carrie Anne" added).

[purlieu]

Going to have to pick up these Piccadilly Sunshine comps daf's songs all seem to be from.

[Brundle-Fly]

Speaking of fuzz guitar bangers...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aUo8l4XxK9U
"Jam 10 Kai Thiet" (Just Wait Ten More Months) by Ros Sereysothea and Seang Vanthy
(The title above is the correct one)
Ome of the stand-out tracks from the pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodian rock scene, even though this is one of the better known tracks I couldn't find a year but I'm going to guess 67? When would you think this came out?

Top track, I had look in Discogs and the first relaese is 1967, then 1966, then a jump to 1970/71. To me, it sounds wigged out enough to err towards the 1970 sound but I'm not an expert on the Cambodian rock scene of that time.

[purlieu]

The Idle Race - Sitting in My Tree

The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham in the late 1960s and early 1970s who had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success. The band holds a place of significance in British Midlands' pop-rock history as a link between The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, the Steve Gibbons Band and Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders.

The band was initially formed in 1959, under the name Billy King and the Nightriders, and consisted of the core members Dave Pritchard on rhythm guitar and Roger Spencer on drums, along with vocalist Billy King, bass guitarist Brian Cope, and lead guitarist Al Johnson. Johnson was replaced in 1963 by Roy Wood, who left two years later to join The Move, and was replaced by Johnny Mann and, eventually, Jeff Lynne. Eager to showcase Lynne's vocal and guitar skills as well as his growing cache of catchy Beatlesque songs, and wishing to embrace the new psychedelic movement, the group changed its name again, first to the Idyll Race and then to the Idle Race.

Bad luck sabotaged efforts from the start. Their debut single on Liberty, a cover of Wood's 'Here We Go 'Round the Lemon Tree', was scheduled for release and heavily promoted in September 1967. When the Move's version began getting national in airplay around the UK as the B-side of the hit 'Flowers In The Rain', Liberty abruptly pulled the single in the UK. The record company replaced it in the UK with Lynne's 'Imposters of Life's Magazine' in October. The single's b-side, Sitting in My Tree is typical of the jaunty, music-hall style of songwriting Lynne was working on at the time, with child-like lyrics about, well, a man sitting in a tree. It eventually found its way onto the band's debut album The Birthday Party, arguably the best thing to feature Jimmy Saville's likeness.

[Brundle-Fly]

Going to have to pick up these Piccadilly Sunshine comps daf's songs all seem to be from.

I was thinking daf must have The Great British Psychedelic Trip Vols 1-4 on See For Miles label. Essential!

[daf]

Haha - Rumbled! :)

Yes, I've got both (plus all 20 volumes of Rubble!)

[daf]

The Californians - Follow Me 



Released in October 1967 - did not chart

Despite their name, the origins of The Californians can be traced back to a Wolverhampton 'skiffle' group called 'The Black Diamonds'. Following the departure of lead singer Sheila Deni, the remaining members decided to carry on as a four-piece harmony group.

A new group name "The Californians" was chosen to reflect the American West Coast harmony sound of groups such as The Beach Boys which they hoped to imitate. The line-up was now Peter Abberley (bass guitar/vocal), Roger Clarke (lead guitar/vocal), new lead vocalist John O'Hara, and Keith Evans on drums.

The Californians first single release in early 1967, 'Golden Apples', was accompanied by a CBS press release : "A new group from the Midlands with the west coast of America sound and appropriately called THE CALIFORNIANS debut on CBS with GOLDEN APPLES. And they will be taking their sound around the country shortly on the new Walker Brothers tour. They are a group who enjoy life to its full. "We really enjoy playing our own music" says vocalist John O'Hara, 21, from Wolverhampton, "and when we are not working we go swimming and skin diving"

Though credited to 'Howe', their second single, 'Follow Me', was written by the then-unknown American songwriter Warren Zevon, and first recorded by the duo lyme & cybelle - consisting of Zevon as 'Stephen lyme' and Violet Santangelo as "cybelle".

John O'Hara : "Going into a studio was amazing. It was like entering another world. You lost all sense of time and space. You could be in there for hours, even days, and you would have no idea when you came out if it was going to be day or night or what day it was. I loved it! Decca No.1 studio was as big as the Civic Hall. It could house orchestras of 40 or 50 players. I've been in there laying a backing track for a record for hours. It all had to be done live because of Musicians' Union requirements. Once you got the nod that that was a take, the musicians would leave and then you would carry on with the engineers for more hours. It was quite exhausting but also exhilarating."

[Brundle-Fly]

Run Run Run - The Third Rail    Released in 1967 on Epic



Not nearly enough U.S. bubblegum pop in this thread so far. Chew on this.

The Third Rail was an American pop/rock group made up of studio musicians briefly popular in the 1960s. The group had three members: Arthur Resnick, Kris Resnick (Artie's wife), and Joey Levine. Artie had spent years writing Brill Building pop songs, including "Under the Boardwalk" by The Drifters and "Good Lovin'" by The Rascals. Levine had played in local bands in New York City and was still in his teens when the group first recorded together. They only did one live show together, in Cincinnati, though they recorded several singles and a full-length album. In 1967, their single "Run Run Run" reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 100, and that same year the LP Id Music was released on Epic Records.
The last single released under the name Third Rail was issued in 1968, after which Levine went on to sing the tune "Yummy Yummy Yummy" for the Ohio Express. All three members later went on to work as songwriters for Kasenetz & Katz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ocDH5bMd4

[daf]

Shawn Phillips - Stargazer   



Released in June 1967 - did not chart

Shawn Phillips was born 3 February 1943 in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of James Young Phillips, a writer of detective novels under the pseudonym of Philip Atlee and the brother of CIA officer David Atlee Phillips.

He played in folk clubs in the early 1960s, alongside singer-songwriter Tim Hardin, comedian Lenny Bruce and others, and when in Saskatoon, Canada, met and taught guitar techniques to aspiring singer Joni Mitchell. He recorded his first single, an adaptation of Bob Gibson's version of "Frankie and Johnnie" in 1964.

While travelling to India, he stopped in London and met record producer Denis Preston, who signed him to Columbia Records. Phillips released two albums on the label, though neither were successful. Phillips also met Donovan, and the pair collaborated on several of Donovan's songs, including "Season of the Witch" for which Phillips composed the melody. Through Donovan, he met the Beatles - visiting them in the studio, along Tony Hicks of the Hollies and David Crosby while they were recording "Lovely Rita".



In 1967, he left England after his work permit expired, and after a period in Paris moved to Positano in Italy, while continuing to tour. He returned to England to write and perform, with The Djinn, the music for the controversial Jane Arden play 'Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven' at the Arts Laboratory on Drury Lane in London in February 1969.

[jamiefairlie]

Kaleidoscope - The Sky Children

https://youtu.be/AIjf37nEHc8



Second track from their debut album, Tangerine Dream.

[Astronaut Omens]

Ennio Morricone's 1967 Adonai, shown here soundtracking a confrontation between Christian traditions and the neo-pagan, youth-worshipping hedonistic worldview of pop. Which group do you prefer? And which would be more likely to accept bald phimosis sufferers into their ranks?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xtr1sRQFQ6A
(other better quality audio uploads are available on youtube but I thought the video in this one, though a bit on-the-nose was worth seeing)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Francoise Hardy - Des ronds dans l'eau paroles



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmgz15t_g1I

Beautiful in every way. You can picture Francoise singing this while gazing wistfully through a rain-dappled window pane. In Paris.

It wasn't released as a single in the UK.

[jamiefairlie]

Storybook People - Do You Believe (1394)

https://youtu.be/Ca0tpbw0NKY



Short-lived Californian band. looks like they only released two singles, this being the first.

[daf]

 Felius Andromeda - Cheadle Heath Delusions



Released as the B-side of "Meditations" in November 1967 - did not chart

Information on Felius Andromeda is rather limited. The band only ever recorded one single in 1967's on the Decca label.

   

"Meditations" is considered to be one of the best British psychedelic obscurities, sounding a lot like early Procol Harum with it's use of organ. The song had a gothic church atmosphere with its Gregorian backing vocals and philosophic lead. "Cheadle Health Delusions" wasn't quite as distinguished [it says here], but is still considered a respectable piece of psych pop.

Sounds like something Robin Gibb might knock out while waiting for Barry to come back from the chippy.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Steve Flynn - Mr Rainbow



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8NzthFwee0

A song that encapsulates the airy sunshine spirit of 1967. Recorded as part of producer/arranger/composer Mark Wirtz's aforementioned and unfinished A Teenage Opera project, it's a reworking of the song Hallucinations by Tomorrow, who were also produced by Wirtz.

Over the years it's been rumoured that Steve Flynn was actually a pseudonym for Wirtz, but the article posted above suggests that he was a real person. Or maybe that was all part of the ruse? It would appear that no one really knows for sure.

[purlieu]

Kaleidoscope - The Sky Children

https://youtu.be/AIjf37nEHc8



Second track from their debut album, Tangerine Dream.

Oof yes, this is such a stunningly beautiful song. I really need to check out their second album.

[daf]

That photo certainly isn't Wirtz, but according to the sleeve notes to my CD copy of "A Teenage Opera" (released by rpm in 1996) . . .

. . . the first, a poppier remake of 'Hallucinations' - and re-tited 'Mr Rainbow', came out in August 1967 with Mark singing (under the guise of Steve Flynn) . . .

[jamiefairlie]

Oof yes, this is such a stunningly beautiful song. I really need to check out their second album.

It's not as good unfortunately (IMHO)

[jamiefairlie]

Sunshine Company - Back on the Street Again

https://youtu.be/FtS37sixUDQ



Short-lived but highly productive, they produced three albums and a handful of singles in just two years before disbanding in 1968. This was their biggest hit, reaching number 34 in the US.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

That photo certainly isn't Wirtz, but according to the sleeve notes to my CD copy of "A Teenage Opera" (released by rpm in 1996) . .

As far as I'm aware, Flynn never recorded anything else. So maybe he was Wirtz after all? Curiouser and curiouser.

Sunshine Company - Back on the Street Again

I love that song.

[honeychile]

Kennard Gardner - Do the skin



Everyone (except Rex Garvin) is tripping on hallucinogenics, or going into deep introspection, man, so what does Kennard Gardner release? A "new dance" song, Do the skin. Finger on the pulse there, Ken. No-one gave a fuck about this passé shit, no matter if all you've got to do is "just slap hands". A shame though - pulsating tune. A bassline that rumbles your internal organs, a rhythm which which sticks a poker up your ass, all leaving Gardner to drape his words over the edges like a technicolour soul carpet while his backing singers flutter beautifully.

Variously named Kenny or Kynnard as denominated by later records, Kennard Gardner's californian solo career - aside from his more common contemporaneous work as a backing singer for the Entertainers IV - was of little fame. But this infectious number which he co-penned deserves to be known. Her hand goes out, yours goes in... that's it my friend, you're doing the skin. Piece of fucking piss.

The b-side is something i can only find in this one low-quality vid - Do the bounce. No words explaining how to do this one, just a bit of an odd mid-atlantic number.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The Mamas & The Papas - Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xa7NWRJjPQ

This is a fairly well-known song, but it was something of a commercial flop by the group's usual standards - it 'only' reached #20 in America and didn't chart at all in the UK. It's stunning, I think, a hippie anthem which in hindsight sounds like an elegy. It never fails to move me. Haunting.

The song is featured during a pivotal scene in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. The reason the song was used is most likely due to the fact that the film contains characters inspired by Charles Manson. Apparently, when the bodies of Sharon Tate and her friends were found in the Cielo Drive house following the Manson massacre, the song was heard playing in another room.

Citation needed? That sounds too tragically ironic to be true. Even if they were listening to this song when Manson's acolytes invaded their home, it wouldn't still be playing when the bodies were discovered. It could've been on the turntable, though, but I dunno. It's more likely that Tarantino chose the song because of how eerie it sounds when juxtaposed with images of the Family arriving at Cielo Drive.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Kennard Gardner - Do the skin

A bassline that rumbles your internal organs...

Hell yeah! That bassline is something else.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Felius Andromeda - Cheadle Heath Delusions
Sounds like something Robin Gibb might knock out while waiting for Barry to come back from the chippy.

Definite Robin vibe there, yes. These gloomy young men were obviously influenced by the kitchen sink realism of Ray Davies and Macca's Eleanor Rigby, but there was a definite pushback against psychedelic whimsy in 1967. It wasn't all crocheted doughnut rings and fairy dust, it would appear that quite a few British popsters were keen to point out that, for most people, the drudgery of life was still unfolding.

[daf]

Life 'N' Soul - Peacefully Asleep



Released as the B-side of 'Ode To Billy Joe' in September 1967 - did not chart

Starting out as Drifters-style soul group, Life 'n' Soul from Manchester, consisted of Stuart Charles on lead vocals, John Brennan on bass, Colin Brock on rhythm guitar and vocals, Andy McCann on lead guitar, piano and vocals, and Clem Lee on drums. They appeared on Opportunity Knocks, and went on a national tour with The Herd and Sweden's Ola and the Janglers.

Their first single was a version of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billy Joe" - which flopped in September 1967. In November 1967, they released their second and final single, "Here Comes Yesterday Again", which hinted towards their roots performing regularly at the legendary Twisted Wheel club. 

[jobotic]

The Free Design - Make the Madness Stop

https://youtu.be/6xiL3Kse0Sk



Another one from their Kites Are Fun debut album. I love the chaotic mix of sweet harmonies and weird time signatures.

I like that a lot. Not on my "Best of" so didn't know it, ta.

[jamiefairlie]

I like that a lot. Not on my "Best of" so didn't know it, ta.

ah well then, here's another couple of my favourites from the album that may not be on the best of...

Stay Another Season

https://youtu.be/eWEBfovdJpU

The Proper Ornaments

https://youtu.be/CA2i55zfKFw

[jamiefairlie]

The Cake - Fire Fly

https://youtu.be/HPamWLsP3XA




I think we've had these guys already. The Cake were an American girl group from New York. The were only together for two years but managed to release two albums and five singles in that time. This is from their self-titled debut album.

[Brundle-Fly]

Red Day - Thomas Edisun's Electric Light Bulb Band  Unreleased in 1967 on Tamm. Finally released in a digipack in 2014 on Gear Fab.



It's great when American psyche bands tried to sound like the Fabs and spectacularly succeeded. Dreamy.

Lead by the great Richard Orange, Thomas Edisun played Beatlesque, psychedelic-pop/proto power-pop of the highest order with amazing songs and incredible harmony vocals. In 1967, just after 'Sgt. Pepper' came out, the band decided to register their own psychedelic masterpiece, so they entered a rudimentary studio and recorded a whole album during a weekend, under the influence of "smoking" and "mind-altering" substances The album was never released, the tapes were stored in attics and basements and the band broke up with some of their members forming cult power-pop band Zuider Zee. 'The Red Day Album' ranges from pure Emitt Rhodes-Macca pop to Forever Amber/Lazy Smoke styled lo-fi pop-sike and almost early Caravan keyboard freak-outs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3jMDtyYHRA